Tag Archives: baking

Grape and Basil Crumble

30 Mar

I have yet to master shopping for fresh produce in NYC.  With only 2 of us and a NYC apartment, I try to shop in small batches to make sure things don’t go bad.  However, as many a day does not play out the way we expect, and we wind up eating out a LOT more than we should, I have the inevitable problem of having to throw too much food away. It makes me want to cry… wasting all that food.

So when I had a whole bushel of grapes that were a few days from being too soft, I had to ask myself “How do I use up a lot of grapes before they go bad?”  This is when I got creative…

First, there was mixing grapes with brown sugar.

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Then it was “what can I do that will make this unique?” and the spice cabinet was opened and basil was sprinkled and with a moment of both bravery and hope, I threw it all together.

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Then topped it with the leftover crumble I had from the Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie.

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And I popped it into the over and prayed.  I removed it when it was bubbling and starting to brown.

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And it was good.  BOY it was good. I actually wished I had added MORE basil.  The flavors were incredibly complimentary.

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So today’s lesson in baking: Don’t be afraid to mix in spices that wouldn’t ordinary be thought of as baking supplies.  Enjoy the creative spoils.

 

Chestnut Cookies

7 Feb

As much as I love chestnuts, I don’t have a lot of recipes that contain them.  So when I found myself just snacking on a jar of them, I decided I’d research some cookies and found a recipe by Smitten Kitchen.  As it turns out, she adapted the recipe originally from Epicurious who posted the basis for them as “Mexican Wedding Cakes”.  This actually very much resembled these vanilla kipferl cookies that my great-grandmother used to make, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I also was a bit ahead since I had chestnuts already in a jar. 

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 I never have luck roasting chestnuts… the ones that aren’t rotten are usually impossible to get out of the shell.   Much easier to buy them already done (even if they are crazy expensive).

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This recipe, luckily, is made for those maddening pieces of chestnuts because the first thing you do is chop them up…

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Then stick them in a food processor to pulverize them. (You can also do this by hand and then mix everything with a hand or stand mixer)

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Into a fine nutty crumb.

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To which you then add soften butter until you have a whipped delicious mound of buttery chestnut paste in your food processor.

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Then you add some freshly grated nutmeg (or the powdered if you don’t have a fresh nut on hand)

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And some powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt, and flour.

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Which forms a lovely dough.

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That you then separate in half and wrap in plastic.  You can then put it into the fridge for at least an hour (mine wound up staying there for about half a day).  Why do you have to chill them?  Because otherwise you have a melty buttery mess on your hands… literally.

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Once the dough is chilled, you can remove one  ball of dough at a time and start rolling 2 teaspoon sized balls.

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Then you pop them in the oven for 14-17 minutes.  SmittenKitchen noted that they over-bake easily, so when after the 20 minute mark mine still hadn’t even started to brown… I got nervous.  I left them in for about another 3 minutes before calling it.  I rolled them over to see that they had just barely begun to brown on the bottom.  (And they weren’t too dry, but I could see how they could get there quickly… and my oven seems to always take just a little longer than recipes call for anyway).

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You then let them cool for about 5 minutes, and then toss them in a mixture of cinnamon and powdered sugar to coat them all the way around.

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Then they cool completely on a rack (okay… and you eat a few while they are warm).

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I actually kept hoping that they would get a little better as they cooled.  They were good, but not chestnutty enough for my taste (the sugar seemed to overpower the chestnut flavor) and actually wound up reminding me of Dunkin Donuts powdered sugar munchkins (not in a good way).  I think next time I will up the chestnut ratio and lower the flour ratio.  I also may try to coat them in a mixture of powdered & white sugar with the cinnamon. 

You can check out the original recipe here.

And for anyone keeping track… yes… I am addicted to chestnuts.  I think I shall call this the Winter of Obsessive Chestnut Nomming.

Meringue Minis

24 Dec

So… now you have mastered meringues after watching my first forray into vlogging.  And you’re ready to pump it up a bit?  Good.  here is an awesome thing to do with meringues that actually made the president of my company say it was the best dessert he has ever had.   

So how do you do it?  Well… if you won the first NYC Nom Nom giveaway, you can make them yourself in the non-stick baking cups that I am obsessed with.

You just use the same meringue recipe and pour it into the cups.

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 I used my fingers to spread the meringue up the sides of the cup.  I was hoping this would create a divot to fill with whipped cream and berries.

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 But a few minutes into cooking, I realized that just the opposite was happening.

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I wound up getting pretty little mounds of meringues that were perfectly fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. 

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 While the domes made them impossible to fill, they sure looked lovely. (I actually remade this a few days later and didn’t move the batter up the sides… it wound up flat on top.  Still delicious, but these look much more fun.)

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 I wound up having extra batter, so I took the extra and combined it with fall spices (cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg) and putting it into a separate dish.  It was delicious, but wouldn’t really come out of the dish.

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 The mounds wound up perfect perched in homemade schlag and some balsamic strawberries.

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Now that it’s winter and strawberries are about $100 per pint, I need to find some fruit to replace the berries.  But if you have access to berries, this is just perfect. 

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Trust me.  You and everyone else will LOVE this!

Merry Christmas Nom World.

How NOT to make Meringue Cookies

20 Dec

I have been making meringues since before I could walk.  It is the first memory I have with my Grandmother and my first food memory.  She taught me how to peak egg whites into meringues and let me press the button on her Kitchenaid. 

This does not mean, however, that I do not occasionally completely FAIL meringues.

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I had just made an apple pie with shortening and, though I washed all my items, I think there was still too much grease on my hands and some of my utensils and it killed the meringues.

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Meringue pancakes anyone?

This FAIL post is to preview the theme of this week.  All meringues. All the time.  Why? Because what better dessert can you think of for Christmas than a sugary, white, delicious treat that is VERY impressive to make. 

And this week will feature my first video blogs on “how to make a meringue” in 3 parts. 

Happy Meringue Week!

Apple Pie with New Crust

17 Dec

My Aunt Dinah is a 90-something powerhouse of a woman with a fondness for awesome shoes and the most amazing spirit you have ever met.   She is awesome.

However, she is 90-something and while she was fine to make ONE homemade apple pie from scratch for Thanksgiving, she admitted she couldn’t bring the usual two pies.  My cousin/uncle Mark, who hosts Thanksgiving every year at his house with wife Wanda, asked that I pick up a pie down the street.

Are you kidding?

Pick up a pie?

That was not going to happen.  Though I couldn’t go up against Dinah’s classic apple pie.  I didn’t even want to try to compete.  So I wanted a bit more of a twist on the pie, so I went with one that had a crumble top.  I got the full recipe from one of my new favorite blogs, The Pioneer Woman.  And I was up for a challenge, so I chose her pie crust that she, a very experienced baker, said was very difficult to make.

And it started with (gulp)… shortening!  EEEEEEEEEEEEK!  How can you make a buttery crust without butter?  I just wasn’t sure, but I had trust.  So I took out the stuff that always reminds me of kindergarten paste and measured myself a cup.

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 And because I have never seen the difference between pastry that I do by hand and when I do it in the food processor (except in wrist pain), I “cheated.”

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 So I pulsed the shortening with the flour until it made a lumpy mess.

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 So I pulsed it a bit more until it looked more like crumbs. 

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 My idea of the right texture for pie crust is always where most of it is making pencil eraser size chunks with a few bigger and some crumbs.

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 Then I added some egg.

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And some water, white vinegar, and salt before separating the crust into 3 parts and making some balls.

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 I put the balls into ziplocks.

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Then used a rolling pin to smush it down so it would be “easier” to work with later (HA!)

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Then I stuck it in the freezer, for what wound up being overnight.  I took it out the next morning to thaw while I prepared the filling.  First I cut up apples (uniformity is important!) 

The filling recipe also came from the Pioneer Woman recipe collection.

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And then stirred together this mixture that was like heaven in my mouth.

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 Phew!  Now just to roll out the crust.

I added flour to my surface and pin.

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And then I rolled… and rolled… and folding it up… and rolled… and rolled.. and refloured… and rolled and rolled and folded it up and rolled and rolled and refloured and rolledandrolledandfoldeditupandrolledandrolledandrefloured… and rolled…

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 It just never quite made it smooth.  I decided that even though it looked like it was falling apart that I would try to lay it into the pie dish and just patch it as needed.

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But how do I get it off of the mat?  It had been floured and all… but it was STUCK.  And it was right around the moment when I somehow looped my apron around the handle of the cabinet and in one foul swooped yanked it open, toppled out the top to my salad spinner, and dumped a combo of flour and pie dough all over the floor.

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Mike was looking at the sorry state of me covered in flour, fear, and frustration and suggested that I turn the whole thing over on the pie plate and peal the dough off. 

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Much to my relief, it worked.  

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 I had to patch some areas and wound up with no where near enough to make nice edges, however, it was SO thin that I dared not roll it anymore. 

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The recipe didn’t mention if the crust should be pricked to allow air out, however, I didn’t want to take any chances so I pricked.

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Then I filled it with the apples that were covered in the delicious sauce. 

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 And I made the topping, which was supposed to be like crumbs… but it never really came close.

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So I wound up breaking it into little chunks with my fingers and spreading it across the top.

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 The smell while this was baking was absolutely fantastic.  And it came out looking BEAUTIFUL!

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But how did it taste?

Well…. ehhhh… it was good… but it wasn’t great.  Not even all that special.  I don’t know why this fell short.  It had all the makings (and look) of a brilliant pie… but it just wasn’t.  And the crust was no better than my other crust, which was much less effort.

So while I still love Ree and her recipes, I think I have to say… skip this pie.   And from what I hear from Lori, make this Pecan Pie instead (which I plan on doing very soon).

For the recipes, it’s better (and so worthwhile) to check out Ree’s summaries:

The Crust

The Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake

15 Dec

When a coworker’s birthday arrives, I always try to bake for the office.  It gives me a great excuse to bake and not have to eat it all.  For one coworker, Sam, I gave him a blank slate to choose what he wanted.  His choice: Pumpkin Cheesecake.  Wise choice, Sam.  Wise Choice.

I didn’t have a recipe that I loved, and usually actually wind up making no-bake cheesecakes (I usually prefer their texture).  For his, however, I did some searching around online to see what I could come up with.  My typical method for coming up with recipes is to check out some highest rated ones around the internet (AllRecipes.com is great), go to some of my most trusted resources for recipes (Food Network, Pioneer Woman, and Smitten Kitchen to name a few), then combine my favorite parts of each and my past recipes to come up with something a bit more Sara.  When I saw this recipe from Paula Deen, however, I decided to try it as-is.  And boy am I glad I did!  This was the best graham cracker crust I have ever tried.

You combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon and then add melted butter.  This is pretty much the same set of ingredients as every graham cracker crust, however, the proportions and texture is just perfect.

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Then you press it into the bottom of a springform pan.

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And if you want to make a sample for yourself and your boyfriend to “make sure it tastes okay” before cutting into the big one the next day… fill the bottom of a non-stick baking cup.   

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Next for the filling, you need cream cheese at room temperature.  It’s amazing how long it takes cream cheese to get to room temp, so I used the kangaroo pouch in my apron to speed it along.  (TIP: Take your cream cheese out a few HOURS before you start) 

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Then you fill the springform with the combination of blended cream cheese, pumpkin puree, eggs (both full and yolks), sugar, spices, and sour cream (which I think really added a perfect flavor!)  The one edit I made is that I added more spices, since I love the flavors of fall.  I honestly could have probably added even more. 

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Then I put the same filling into the cups.

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 And set the whole thing to bake at 350 for 1 hour. (Or 30-35 minutes for the mini cups).

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Then let it cool for 15 minutes before slapping yourself in the forehead.  Why?  Cheesecakes are finicky little things.  They just LOVE to expose their fault lines as they cool.   Every other cheesecake I’ve ever baked I have put in a water bath (which regulates the temperature so it doesn’t crack as it cools), and I just plum forgot.  D’oh! 

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Honestly?  No one cared and it still tasted MARVELOUS!  I don’t think I would change a thing about this recipe with the exception of a bit more allspice and clove.

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And what would a Sara dessert be without a homemade schlag to go with it?  I thought a salted carmel schlag would compliment the pumpkin cheesecake… so I looked up a recipe and found out that it was basically just making caramel, adding salt, then adding in the heavy cream, letting it cool and then whipping it up.  Easy-peasy!

Unfortunately, however, my pot has a hot spot and it kept burning in one corner.  Damn.  It was still delish though!

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I added the cream once it browned…

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 And the cool cream instantly made it into cracked caramel sugar.  But a few spins over medium heat and it blended nicely into a delicious base for whipped cream.

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 And the minis?  Well… a bit overcooked.  I did it for 45 minutes, so probably more like 30-35 would be better (cheesecake shouldn’t brown, and should be a little loose in the middle).

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 But they popped out beautifully.

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 And made a perfect bite with the whipped cream.

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This is a fantastic recipe.  And a TRUE crowd pleaser.

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RECIPE
___________________

Pumpkin Pie
(Borrowed with hardly any changes from Paula Deen via FoodNetwork.com)

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

  • 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
  • 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I would make this 1/4 or 1/2 tsp. depending on your love of cloves and possibly also add 1/4 tsp. Allspice)
  • 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

  

  

Mike’s Birthday Dinner Part 2: Black and White Cookies

17 Nov

The second part of Mike’s birthday dinner had to be dessert.  I tried to think of something new to make that Mike loved.  He always seeks out black and white cookies, so I decided to try my hand at them.  I also decided to try to take a lot more “making of” pictures for this recipe.

Here is the ol’ melted butter in the mixer pic.

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I then creamed said butter with sugar.

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And then started adding eggs.  Here went #1 of 4.

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As you are looking at the picture below, I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself “why on earth is that egg so happy?”  I’ll tell you… I tried to take a picture of these eggs with my camera about 400 times. It couldn’t find a single surface to focus on, however, so I got crafty.  And… named him Fred.

Say “hi” to Fred!

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And then… Fred had to die.

Goodbye Fred.

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I mixed the eggs in with the butter/sugar and then added in milk, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.  That is when it got scary.  It looked curdled.  I’m sure the lemon extract had something to do with it.

I paused for a moment, but then decided to continue and see how it all turned out.

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Next up came the cake flour, salt, and baking powder.

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Which, when all combined, looked like something edible again.  (Oh boy and it was good eatin’ batter!)

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This here is moments before I licked it completely clean.

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I dropped the dough onto a pan by an ice cream scoop, aiming for bigger cookies than the 1 Tablespoon suggestion would have brought.  I wanted bakery size!

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Then I used the back of a spoon to swirl the top to make them flatter.

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Using my trusty Silpat all the way.  Well… half of the way.  I only had 2 mats and 4 pans.  D’oh.

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And then into the oven they went at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

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And if it wasn’t clear why Silpats rock, here is photographic evidence that Silpats are pretty much the best invention ever.  THOUGH, after the suggested 30 minutes, both trays were still pretty raw.

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I actually stuck them back in the oven and checked on them about every 3 minutes for the next 15 minutes.  It was now 50% longer than the original recipe called for and I started to get nervous.  I took them out and they were less raw, though still quite white on the bottom.

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I took a bite and figured it didn’t matter so much since they tasted awesome.  And onto the cooling rack they went.  (Though, as mentioned in the previous entry, some came into work with me.)

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When I came home (prior to making dinner), I started glazing the cookies.  The bottom shows the white glaze, which basically just looks half shiny.

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Then I added chocolate glaze.  I was in WAY too much of a rush so I didn’t spread these out enough.  So they weren’t nearly as neat as I would have preferred.  I was also pretty bummed at the transparency of the chocolate glaze and could not for the life of me figure out how most places get it so dark!

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But they tasted great!  Though not bakery great.  I guess there are just some things you should leave to the pros!

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RECIPE
________________________

Black & White Cookies
(original recipe was from AllRecipes.com, however, I read the notes and tweaked it accordingly)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 3/4 cups white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/3 cup boiling water (just add until it’s the right consistency)
  • 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (good quality)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter/spray 2 baking sheets or use a Silpat.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. Combine cake flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
  3. Bake until edges begin to brown, about 20 to 30 minutes (or more?). Cool completely.
  4. Place confectioners sugar in large bowl. Mix in boiling water one tablespoon at a time until mixture is thick and spreadable. (Add more than the indicated amount if you need to).
  5. Transfer half of the frosting to the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir in the chocolate. Warm mixture, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts. Remove from heat. (or do it slowly in the microwave)
  6. With a brush, coat half the cookie with chocolate frosting and the other half with the white frosting. Set on waxed paper until frosting hardens.

Peach and Pear Crumble

10 Nov

I was reading TheKitchn blog and stumbled on this post, which led me to this recipe.  I had a whole bunch of peaches and pears to use up so I decided this was a perfect opportunity to bake up what sounded like a great recipe.

I first cut up all the fruit (I think it wound up being 2 large peaches and 3 large pears).  I mixed all that with 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, two tablespoons of brown sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a dash of freshly-ground nutmeg (just as the blog told me) and put it into the bottom of a pie plate.  It said not to grease it, but that always makes me nervous… so I sprayed it with Pam Butter Spray before I loaded it all in there.

Then I made the crumble by combining sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.  This was then mixed with the egg.  If you mix it by hand (and I literally mean squeezing the mixture between your fingers), you will get little nuggets of crumble.

I then put that right over the fruit.

And poured the melted butter over top.

And put it in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes until it was nicely browned on top.  (My oven takes a bit longer for most recipes, so I would check it after 30 minutes)

It wound up more liquidy inside than I expected.

And it certainly needed to be served in a bowl to look pretty since it had no form.  But I wasn’t impressing anyone.

And it was perfectly paired with some whipped cream.

As far as recipes go, this was a damn good one.  But I would at least one tweak.  Mainly… there wasn’t enough BROWN SUGAR!  Now yes… I do like my desserts sweet, but the best part of a crumble, in my opinion, is the fruit paired with the buttery crumbly top and the bit of molasses stuff you get from the combo of brown sugar and fruit juice.  Also, the original recipe called for crystallized ginger, which I didn’t have… so I went without.  Perhaps that was the missing piece to send it over the edge.

Here is the original plum recipe: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-i-do-now.html

Molten Chocolate Cakes… baked in a toaster oven

30 Jun

I always try to bake for my co-worker’s birthdays.  I think too often we get caught up so much with work that we don’t remember that we have lives on the outside of the office.  Birthdays are a damn good excuse to have something to celebrate and bring a little joy to the office.  I also love any excuse to bake.  When my coworker mentioned how much she LOVES molten chocolate cakes, I knew what I was making for her birthday.  I also absolutely love molten cakes myself, and I remembered Lori had blogged about making some recently.  So Lori gave me the recipe from the NY Times that sounded easy enough.

I was a bit worried, however, as I knew I was going to have to prepare these in advance and then cook them in the office… in a toaster oven.  So I decided to make a single cake at home first to see how it went.  The batter tasted DELISH and I got it all set up to go in the oven…

And then when the alarm went off, I cheerfully turned it over and…

Wah wah.  Bummer!  Since moving in I have realized that my very large, very modern oven needs longer cooking times than recipes usually call for (maybe because it’s bigger?) and I should have kept it in for longer than the recipe.

So I gathered it all up and dumped it back in and put it back in the oven…

and prayed… and…

Wah Wah x2!  Damn.  It tasted good though!

So I figured I had nothing to lose and I bought some ice cream, whipped cream, and berries and figured that if it didn’t work I would make a trifle or put it in a bowl to eat.  So with frayed nerves and a small prayer… into the work toaster oven it went the next day…

And???

Yayyy! It actually worked!  I actually think they got a little over cooked and weren’t as molten as I would have liked, but at least they came out in little chocolate deliciousities.  What is especially curious is that the ones in the muffin tins worked, yet the last one in the ramekin still didn’t come out right (so I ate it myself out of the container).  Perhaps I need to grease the ramekins more next time.

It’s rare that I fail baking, and this was quite the blow to my floured ego, however, it just goes to show you that making mistakes in baking happens often.  Don’t let it get you down

Do not fear the pie

17 Feb

I guess I learned how to make a pie before I learned that it was something to fear. So many people I know say they don’t make pies because they are terrified of making crust. So below I’ve broken down the steps for how to make a pie crust.

Now while I don’t LOVE my crusts, it seems they are quite popular amongst my friends (I just don’t think they have enough flavor). Texture-wise it’s always pretty good… flaky without being too crumbly. But this recipe works well… so I don’t mess with it too much. If you want to make a pie with 2 crusts or a lattice crust, it’s always good to double it. Cut up 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) into small cubes and place in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Prepare about 1/2 cup of ice water and set aside. Combine 2 cups flour with 1 tsp. salt. Remove butter from freezer and combine with flour mixture (see tip below) until it looks like crumbles the size of small peas (don’t be too aggressive with this). Then stir in ice water in by the teaspoon and mix until dough forms. At first it will look like this will never happen, then suddenly: DOUGH! If you’ve doubled the recipe, divide into two dough balls and flatten into pancakes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, 4 or overnight is better.

The secret to pies, as you’ll hear over and over again, is COLD. As far as I have learned, the cold butter stays more solid within the flour mixture and you need those pockets of butter to make flaky dough. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the little pieces of butter in the dough.

I have heard many pieces of advice about keeping everything cold and it’s all rather daunting if you read it. Personally, I’ve always had success with cutting the butter into small cubes and putting it into the freezer before mixing everything together. A lot of people fear a food processor for the warmth of the blades and other people swear by them. I’ve never had one, so I just give it a quick spin in the Kitchenaid or pull out the pastry blender.

After the dough has been in the fridge, take out a dough pancake and place it on a floured countertop or smooth surface. Rolling out dough takes time and patience but I find it meditative. You want to start in the center and roll out a corner. Then pick it up and turn it 90 degrees and roll it again. Continue this, making sure the surface below is well floured so it doesn’t stick.

Once the dough is at the desired diameter, flour both sides lightly and then fold in half and then half again (you can also roll it on the rolling pin, however, I find the folding method easier).

Pick up the folded dough and lay into a quarter of the pie plate.

Unfold the half.

Then unfold again and gently push the dough into the corners of the pie plate.

You can leave the overhang and fold it over for a fluted edge (another pie post coming soon with that) or you can cut down the edges of the pie for a blunt edge (just rub your hand firmly against the rim and let the edge of the pie plate do the cutting for you).

If you are making a fruit pie, it’s good to add a top (I personally like lattice work).

After you roll out the 2nd sheet, cut it into strips (I use a pizza cutter).  I learned an easy way to make lattice but completely forgot it when I was making this one (d’oh!)  So don’t follow my directions below, follow these and lattice will be a piece of cake (errr… pie): http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/latticed-and-loony/

I started all wrong but it worked out in the end.


After weaving all the strips, I cut them down to the end of the pie pan.

Then I added a pie crust rim.

Then I drizzled the entire thing in the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture that went into the pie.

It baked up so lovely.  I will definitely be making this one again.

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RECIPE
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Ingredients

  • 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (see above)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 8 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced (this sounded like a LOT so I think I went with 3 apples, 1 pear, and cranberries)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
  2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
  3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.
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